The Future of Employee Representation in America: Enabling Freedom of Association in the Workplace in Changing Times Through Statutory Reform

The future of organizing: should we return to the policy of the Wagner Act? This question, as part of a consideration of the future of labor unions in the twenty-first century, compels one to focus on a crucial premise: that the Wagner Act was helpful to unions in the middle part of the twentieth century. Moreover, most persons who would agree that the Wagner Act was helpful to unions assume, without conscious examination, a related premise: namely, that the Wagner Act was helpful to workers. Examining these premises is essential. If the Wagner Act at its outset did not provide a sound foundation for future growth of employee representation, then it is most unlikely that any amount of tinkering with it will provide a statutory vehicle suitable for the vastly changed economic and working environment of the twenty-first century. No amount of labor law reform can overcome a weak foundation

A Right of Fair Dismissal: Enforcing a Statutory Guarantee

Support for the concept that employees should be protected against wrongful dismissal continues to grow in this country. Yet, many advocates of protection have thus far refrained from venturing into the legislative arena. Even though the movement to achieve this protection is still at an early stage, it is not too soon to focus on specific proposals designed to translate ideals into protections. By failing to coalesce behind a single proposal, supporters have retarded the progress of the movement. Without a proposal for specific legislation, supporters lack a rallying point and legislators have nothing concrete to debate. This Article attempts to meet this need by providing a proposal which not only satisfies the criteria of those advocating protection, but also responds to the concerns of those opposing such a right. Part I discusses the ILO Convention and its substantive and procedural requirements. Part II describes how these ILO standards have been implemented in Great Britain, a country with a labor law history and practice quite similar to that found in the United States, and highlights those practices capable of imitation. Part III explains how every state can implement ILO unfair-dismissal standards and British practices through existing state mechanisms. A description of the Pennsylvania unemployment claims procedure will illustrate that existing systems require only minor modification to accommodate the proposed statutory goal. This Article concludes that such a statutory guarantee, implemented at the state level through existing procedures, is both timely and feasible

Oral History Interview with Janice Bellace: Conceptualising SMU

This is an abridged version of the original interview. Please contact the Library at [email protected] for access to the full version of the transcript and/or audio recording.</p

The Changing of the Guard: The New American Labor Leader

This article analyzes recent changes in the leadership of international unions. There has been a trend toward leaders who are lifetime bureaucrats rather than rank-and-file members with charisma. This change toward more technocratic leadership is due to the different environment and new challenges that labor currently faces. The United Mine Workers is a good example of a union that has had many changes in the type of person who has become president, from the labor giant John L. Lewis to the 33-year-old lawyer Richard Trumka. The United Auto Workers is an example of a union whose leadership has been consistently drawn from the union hierarchy. The AFL-CIO has made a change in leadership from George Meany to the labor bureaucrat Lane Kirkland. There will probably be an increase in the number of women and minorities in top leadership positions in unions, but this will be a gradual increase.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66627/2/10.1177_000271628447300107.pd